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Excitable Boy (song)
"Excitable Boy" was written by LeRoy Marinell and Warren Zevon, and was performed by Zevon (Piano), Waddy Wachtel (Guitar), Bob Glaub (Bass), Russell Kunkel (Drums), Jim Horn (Sax), Linda Ronstadt, Jennifer Warnes and Waddy Wachtel (Harmony Vocals). About the Song The song is about a juvenile sociopath and his many misadventures. This begins with mild occurrences such as messing himself up with food and escalates higher and higher until downright slaughter. His first descent into violence described is of biting an usherette's leg whilst lighting was poor at a public performance; and the stated gender also seems to illustrate the juvenile's descent into misogynistic attacks. Going to the junior prom with "Little Susie", the heroine of Zevon's former employers, the Everly Brothers', signature tune "Wake Up Little Susie", his urges quickly overcome him leading to rape and murder - only to then bring the corpse home as a trophy. After spending ten years "in the home" his uncontrollable behaviour is far from sated as he returns to Suzie's grave and digs up her bones to make into a cage. Like most of Zevon's darker ballads, the narrative is an attempt at humour rather than plain horror. This is achieved through the irony of, no matter how vile the charge, the adults around the "excitable boy" in question merely dismiss the rowdy behaviour as "well, he's just an excitable boy", with a chorus emphasizing this idea. Arguably this song, more then his more well known "Werewolves of London", helped cement Zevon's persona as a macabre songwriter. The song is also famously self-referential in many aspects in that it refers to Zevon himself and his restlessness. The anecdote about the pot roast for example was literally something that Zevon actually did, as described in I'll Sleep When I'm Dead: The Dirty Life and Times of Warren Zevon. Zevon was later diagnosed as having obsessive compulsive disorder; a shared condition that lead to his friendship with Billy Bob Thornton. This condition likely also contributed to his alcohol and drug addictions and other problems. Lyrics Well, he went down to dinner in his Sunday best Excitable boy, they all said And he rubbed the pot roast all over his chest Excitable boy, they all said Well, he's just an excitable boy He took in the four A.M show at the Clark Excitable boy, they all said And he bit the usherette's leg in the dark Excitable boy, they all said Well, he's just an excitable boy He took little Suzie to the Junior Prom Excitable boy, they all said And he raped her and killed her, then he took her home Excitable boy, they all said Well he's just an excitable boy After ten long years they let him out of the home Excitable boy, they all said And he dug up her grave and built a cage with her bones Excitable boy, they all said Well he's just an excitable boy See Also *''Excitable Boy'' *''A Quiet Normal Life: The Best of Warren Zevon'' *''I'll Sleep When I'm Dead (An Anthology)'' *''Genius: The Best of Warren Zevon'' *''Stand in the Fire'' *''Learning to Flinch'' *''The Warren Zevon Guitar Songbook'' *''The Offender Meets the Pretender'' Category:Excitable Boy Tracks Category:Warren Zevon Songs Category:Featured media External Links *Profoundly Horrifying Song Lyrics: "Excitable Boy" by Warren Zevon